The president of Cornell University, which has found itself at the center of a 2024 gang rape case involving a student, announced yesterday the launch of an independent review into how the university handled the matter, stressing that “we must do more.”
“I welcome the independent assessment to be conducted by an outside law firm regarding how Cornell handled the 2024 incident,” said President Michael Kotlikoff in a video message posted on the university’s website. “This week has been one of the most difficult in our history,” he continued, noting that the matter “will weigh on our community for years to come.”
What Cornell University’s president said about the gang rape case
In the eight-minute video, Kotlikoff described the young woman’s allegations — that she was raped by seven members of a university fraternity — as “deeply troubling.” The incident has raised questions about drug and alcohol use on campus, as well as about how the investigations were conducted, he added. The woman, a 20-year-old Cornell student, alleges she was gang raped by seven members of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity at the fraternity house after consuming alcohol and the drug ketamine.
Two weeks after the incident, she reported it to Cornell University police, who launched an investigation — but no charges were filed. Last week, the woman filed a civil lawsuit against, among others, the university itself, which she accuses of failing to protect her and to adequately punish the men involved in her assault.
Investigations continue
Kotlikoff emphasized that he is “committed to investigating” how the case was handled and stressed that both the university administration and the broader community “must do more.” “We need to foster a culture in which sexual assault is considered inexcusable and ensure that our community is educated about consent,” he added.
He also noted that university leadership must create an environment in which victims of sexual assault “feel safe coming forward and are treated with compassion and dignity,” describing the moment as “a defining moment” in Cornell’s history.
On Thursday, New York Governor Kathy Hochul appointed state Attorney General Letitia James as special prosecutor to investigate the case, and pledged to reform a controversial law that makes it difficult for a victim to be recognized as having been sexually assaulted if they had voluntarily consumed alcohol or drugs beforehand.
For his part, Tompkins County District Attorney Matthew Van Houten — whose jurisdiction includes Cornell — acknowledged the public outcry over how authorities handled the case. Earlier this week, he stated that his office would reexamine the matter and present evidence — including the woman’s testimony — to a grand jury for possible prosecution. He explained that at the time of the incident, his office did not pursue charges because evidence forwarded by police indicated that the sexual activity had been consensual.
What US media are reporting
According to US media reports, police appear to have removed from the alleged victim’s statement a portion in which she described the events as rape and stated that she had been coerced.
Governor Hochul criticized Cornell University police for this omission, while also questioning why Van Houten’s office neither took a direct statement from the woman nor reviewed the full transcript of her police interview.
